Blindfold Illuminates Impairment

There was some gentle consciousness-raising going on at the 1998 Inland Northwest Golf & Sports Show Sunday afternoon.

Don’t laugh.

There among the golf gear, basketball hoop, climbing wall and indoor tennis layout at the Spokane Convention Center, the Lilac Blind Foundation had a station .

Visitors got two chances to sink a 9-foot putt on a strip of artificial grass. But on the second try, you had to wear a blindfold.

“Sort of makes you think,” said one man as he prepared to take his in-the-dark putt.

Exactly.

“The kids seem to do better than the grown-ups,” said Jan Krogh, a foundation board member who was there along with executive director Nancy Domanico.

Well, not all kids. Once blindfolded, a little girl named Sabrina took several swipes at the ball with the putter without coming close to making contact.

Others assumed their putting stance and then waited and waited. It was as if they hoped to hear Obiwan Kenobi whisper, “Use the Force, Joan.”

The main idea was to promote a June 24 benefit golf tournament the foundation is sponsoring along with Target stores. But if anyone walked away with a heightened awareness of what it’s like to have little or no eyesight, well, so much the better.

“It’s easy to take vision for granted,” said Domanico.

Those who sank their blindfolded putt had their names entered for a prizes drawing. One who did so was a woman who looked to be about 60.

“Well,” said her husband, “now we know what we need to do when you’re out on the golf course.”

She shot him a look that suggested he would pay for that remark.

Some who took their turn showed signs of being accomplished golfers. Others gripped the club as if it were a shovel.

A couple of men refused to try the putt with their eyes covered. But most who stopped by the foundation’s station went along good-naturedly.

“Can I do it?” one little girl pleaded.

She got her turn. Her first putt skittered wide of the hole. But a helpful little boy down on his hands and knees grabbed the ball and put it in.

, DataTimes MEMO: Services for the vision impaired The Lilac Blind Foundation, a United Way agency, offers a variety of services in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. To find out about them, call (509)328-9116 or 1-800-422-7893